Who will lead Alabama football in tackles this season?

Photo via Alabama Athletics

Alabama football lost its two leading tacklers from the 2025 football season when Deontae Lawson and Justin Jefferson declared for the NFL Draft. Lawson led the Tide in total tackles with 89 during his last season with Alabama.

With Lawson with the Philadelphia Eagles, who replaces him and leads the Tide in tackles this fall? Bray Hubbard is definitely where this conversation starts.

Hubbard was the Tide’s third-leading tackler last season, behind Lawson and Jefferson. He was able to achieve this by being a hybrid safety who excelled at defending the pass and playing against the run. He lined up at the second level alongside the Tide’s inside linebacker in Kane Wommack’s defense at times during the 2025 football season. Hubbard is expected to play a similar role this fall.

If it is not Hubbard, it could very likely be a player who is replacing Lawson and Jefferson at linebacker. Caleb Woodson, a Virginia Tech transfer, is a very likely candidate. He is projected to start at inside linebacker for Alabama this fall, and he will be the most experienced linebacker on the Tide’s roster to enter the season.

Woodson started in 17 games for the Hokies across three seasons. He finished last season with 58 total tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss while only starting five games and playing in 11.

With him expected to earn more snaps than he ever did as a Hokie this fall with the Tide, Woodson will have a shot to put the best season of his career on paper.

Sleepers to take on this role are the young linebackers who will play alongside Woodson. QB Reese, Luke Metz, Cayden Jones, Abduall Sanders and Duke Johnson are all expected to compete for the opportunity to play alongside Woodson during fall camp. Whoever gets the nod to earn this role or get into the inside linebacker rotation for Alabama this fall will immediately become a serious contender to lead the Tide in tackles.

Outside of Hubbard, Keon Sabb is the next likely defensive back to be Alabama’s top tackler this fall.

Am linebacker has led the Tide in tackles in each of Wommack’s first two seasons as the Alabama defensive coordinator.